I wrote the first ruling allowing same-sex marriage in Iowa. Don't take rights for granted.

• Robert B. Hanson served as an Iowa district court judge from 2003 to 2024.

Fifteen years ago, Iowa became the third state in the country to allow same-sex couples to marry. It was a momentous occasion, and one that has yielded significant happiness and fulfillment for so many. As we mark the day, we must also remain vigilant to threats that lie in plain sight — especially with the rise of alarming developments from legislators and courts. The past few years have taught us that hard-earned rights should not be taken for granted.

This issue is deeply personal for me. As a Polk County District Court judge in 2007, I ruled in Varnum v. Brien that a state law limiting marriage between a man and a woman violated Iowa’s constitutional right to equal protection. As a father who learned seven years later that my own son is gay, the importance of this cause has only grown over time.

As with any other journey, the road to progress has also had its hurdles. My decision was immediately appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, which unanimously upheld my ruling in 2009, leading to same-sex couples being able to wed across the state. In the wake of the decision, anti-marriage forces nationwide descended on Iowa, predicting that allowing same-sex couples to marry would destroy the state. I personally faced a vocal backlash locally.

But then a funny thing started happening. The sky did not fall in the manner that opponents of marriage equality suggested. Quite the opposite. The freedom to marry for same-sex couples has become ingrained in our Iowa culture, consistent with values we cherish like family, hard work, self-reliance and freedom.

According to the Williams Institute, there are more than 4,000 same-sex couples in our state, and many are married. More than a quarter of these couples (27%) are raising children. Having more children in loving homes means fewer in government-run welfare programs and savings to the taxpayers. In fact, on average, same-sex couples are seven times more likely to foster or adopt a child than their counterparts.

Two years after the freedom to marry became law of the land in Iowa, total spending on weddings was estimated as high as $13 million, adding nearly $1 million in revenue to the government coffers.

Even as Iowa’s politics have trended more conservative over the years (in 2020, Donald Trump carried the state by 9 percentage points, a 19-point swing since Barack Obama’s 2008 victory) marriage equality has continued to grow in popularity. In 2003, when Massachusetts put the issue on the map with its court ruling permitting same-sex couples to marry, less than one quarter (23%) of Iowans were in favor, while two-thirds (65%) supported a ban. Two decades later, the number supporting has nearly flipped on its head, with new polling showing that 60% of Iowa residents in favor of same-sex marriage. Following my ruling on marriage, I was retained by voters twice.

In the 2015 landmark decision Obergefell v. Hodges, the U.S. Supreme Court declared a fundamental right to marry for same-sex couples nationwide. It was another joyous and watershed moment.

Yet the storm clouds are gathering. In the 2022 Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas hinted that same-sex marriage could be next on the chopping block. He wrote that the justices, “should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell.”

Closer to home, an Iowa lawmaker has proposed legislation several years in a row defying Obergefell and banning marriage for same-sex couples again. The bill also targeted the 2022 bipartisan “Respect For Marriage Act” (which was supported by Republican Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst) codifying federal protections for same-sex couples.

In the 15 years since the Varnum decision, we have seen an undeniable growth in public acceptance and support for the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. But there are real threats to this progress — and it’s critical that we not lose sight of them. We must remind anyone who will listen that same-sex couples having the freedom to marry is consistent with our values and our way of life, so that Iowa moves forward, not backward.

Robert B. Hanson served as an Iowa district court judge from 2003 to 2024.